Mobile terminals are developed to provide wireless communication between users. As technology has advanced, mobile terminals now provide many additional features beyond simple telephone conversation. For example, mobile terminals are now able to provide additional functions such as an alarm, a Short Messaging Service (SMS), a Multimedia Message Service (MMS), E-mail, games, remote control of short range communication, an image capturing function using a mounted digital camera, a multimedia function for providing audio and video content, a scheduling function, and many more. With the plurality of features now provided, a mobile terminal has effectively become a necessity of daily life.
On a desktop/laptop or comparable computer that offers a larger screen than a mobile device, switching between applications or displaying multiple windows is not difficult. However, on a small screen device such as a mobile terminal, displayed information is generally limited to only a single application at a time. When a user needs to refer to a different application, the user much change applications. Another solution is “Multi Window” but this is limited to particular apps; further, Multi Window in a mobile terminal occupies at least third of an entire screen, even if the user would see only a small portion of another page.
Rytivaara (US Pat. App. Pub. 2008/0163082, “Transparent layer application”) describes displaying two applications simultaneously, where the second application is transparently presented over the first application. Also, the first application is operated through a keypad and the second application is operated through touch screen.
Some distinctions from Rytivaara's invention are that the present disclosure provides capabilities that a user can see a background application through the foreground application, the portion of view can be moved around, and the user can choose at which level of background an application will be displayed so that the portion of view is not interfering with the user seeing a foreground application. The main disadvantage of Rytivaara's invention is that different input operations will tend to make the user confused, and the view of the top application will interfere with the user seeing a second application.
Diefendorff (U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,765, “Porthole window system for computer displays”) describes that a porthole window system for computer displays allows a user to look at a portion of a window which could otherwise not be seen. A porthole window acts as an opening in a window of the usual type through which underlying windows may be seen. A porthole window can have different features as desired, including links to selected source and target windows, real time movement on the display screen, and the ability to be updated when a target window is updated. The porthole system runs concurrently with the normal window handling system of the computer. The porthole system is related art in terms of seeing an underneath application through a porthole on top of the foreground application. However, the porthole system does not include a control to change the level of the underneath application that will be seen through porthole. Further, the view size is fixed, and cannot swap the view level by selecting a currently visible underneath application.
Gedye (U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,141, “Managing display windows of inter-related applications using hollowed windows”) describes that at least one background display window is generated and displayed behind a hollowable portion of the foreground display window, rendering the visibility and accessibility of the at least one background display window to be dependent on the foreground display window. Gedye's invention is similar to a pop-up window related to the foreground application. Gedye's invention has the ability to show only inter-related applications, such as right click on a mouse or menu pop-up.
Weber, et al. (US Pat. App. Pub. 2013/0152010, “Multiple tab stack user interface”) describes displaying multiple web pages in a stack like tab Graphical User Interface (GUI) to switch tab in Chrome. Weber's invention is related in that that multiple tabs are stacked, but does not feature switching tabs and manipulating the level of the tabs.
Clausen, et al. (US Pat App. Pub. 2014/0201660, “Apparatus and method for application peel”) describes peeling an application view to manage a plurality of applications concurrently running. Only a predefined portion of a foreground application can be peeled, and only a predefined area of a background application can be present.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and method for providing an improved user interface displaying a plurality of background applications in a mobile terminal.